Spring Mansion - Evolution of a Putz House

Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser - The Wilkins House Cardboard Version

I've been working making a little cardboard Putz house based on the Wilkins House, a dramatic example of the Italianate style in my hometown. The goal is to make 2 versions (one Christmas and one Halloween) that will be auctioned off at the Habitat for Humanity fundraiser in October. Last year my little house that was auctioned was sold for $80. I am hoping that these houses will sell for much more. In other words, I want these Wilkins House putz houses to be spectacular. (By the way, the sale of all of the other Halloween houses brought in an additional $1300 for Habitat.)

Prototype for the Wilkins House

I finally realized that in order to make such a complicated house in miniature I needed to do a mock-up. That mock-up evolved into the Spring Mansion. The design ended up being so different from the inspiration that it took on a life of its own. I decided to call it Spring mansion because it's not spooky like my Halloween houses, the lawn is a spring green, the house colors are nice and crisp like springtime, so the house became the Spring mansion.

This article is not about the Wilkins House, but about a new house - the Spring Mansion.

Spring Mansion Putz house #putzhouse #papercraft #glitterhouse

Putz house - a little cardboard house based on a real house in South Carolina called the Wilkins House

Spring Mansion on a sunny day

I am very happy about a number of things with this house. I love the colors - the house itself is painted with a Tim Holtz Distress Hickory Smoke; the chimneys, porch and stairs are painted with Distress Pumice Stone paint. The roof shingle color is Faded Jeans in the same line of Distress paint, distressed on the edges with some Black Soot Ink. Mowed Lawn, of course, is the color of the green base. The trim is painted with a thick white gesso. And always, I love these windows. They are die cuts from the Village Manor by Tim Holtz and Sizzix. I just think they are so cool. Most importantly is that they are so cool and I don't have to cut them by hand.

I have been experimenting with some of the trim. The balusters on the Wilkins House are vase-shaped which I know I cannot cut by hand and I don't have a die to cut this shape. As a result I had to look around for something that might be interesting and function as a baluster. The fence was my first attempt. It's made from Tim Holtz Thinlet called Lace. I was going to use it on the porch to form the balusters, but the scale is too big.

Next, I found some offcuts from a fence on the Tim Holtz Village Bungalow that I thought my work. So what you see on the porch is the upside down offcut from the top of the fence. The trim around the house is the bottom of the fence. Here is a photo from the Sizzix website to help you visualize what I am talking about. I neglected to take photos when I was making these pieces.

Sizzix Village Bungalow - Offcuts from the fence to make the trim around the house and to make the balusters for the porch

I think the offcuts work pretty well. The problem - I didn't glue on the railing evenly. You will see in the upcoming photos.

Spring Mansion angled side view

Notice the wonky fence lines. Usually I do a better job matching up edges and gluing them together. My cabinetmaker brother suggested that I miter the edges. Miter cardboard? I think he was joking for the most part.

Spring Mansion side view which shows the fencing pattern better

The photo above shows how the lace was modified to make a fence, but you can also see that I didn't glue the railing pieces on evenly where the front of the fencing on this side is shorter than the back of the fencing. That will be rectified on the next house.

Spring Mansion top view rooflines putz house

View of the rooflines on the Spring Mansion

Bird's eye view of roof on the Spring Mansion

I do love the rooflines on this house. This part worked out well because the edges of the hipped roofs came together so nicely. It doesn't always happen so easily. I also like the grey chimneys. I drew the mortar lines by hand.

Roofline overview of Spring Mansion putz glitterhouse

Looking down on the house where the rooflines come together

Despite the wonkiness of the fence and the porch, I still love this house. I like the colors and the overall design of the house. It's a good starting point for the real Wilkins house, don't you think?

I'll go over lessons learned and improvements in the next post.

Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser - The Wilkins House Cardboard Version

Prototype for the Wilkins House

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